Pros: Outstanding sound at a price that is very attractive in the realm of high end headphones

Cons: Requires a very powerful partnering amp to get the best out of them.

Now that I have spent time comparing the HE-6, LCD-2, Edition 10, T1, and HD800, I thought the time was right to put down a few thoughts on the HE-6, which are, when properly amped, a TERRIFIC headphone.

The HE-6 have incredibly transparency, and a very wide-bandwidth delivery that is remarkably even and smooth. While they have just a slightly lively treble, this is more an elevation overall than a single peak, and their treble performance sets them apart from the HD800 and Edition 10, which have more issues in the treble. The bass is just slightly less in weight and quality than the LCD-2, but nonetheless outstanding. And the mids are just unbelievably transparent.

While the HE-6 can sound phenomenal, they won't unless they have a lot of power. The best they ever sounded to me was hooked up to the speaker outputs of my Leben CS300XS, which is a 15 wpc amp. There is no doubt that the HE-6 like a good strong amp. But given good, plentiful power, they well deliver an amazing sonic performance for the money.

To elaborate on the amplification story - the fairly low efficiency really does mean a pretty powerful amp is needed to make them come alive. The WA6 was insufficient. The Leben CS300XS was better (from its headphone out), but the Decware Mini-Torri was even better (since using its headphone out is basically 100% the same as using its speaker outs). Via the Decware, the HE-6 can really be allowed to swing, and swing they do. I later tried driving the HE-6 from the SPEAKER outs of the Leben, and this was better still. This gave the HE-6 a better sense of ease and dynamics.

Even later, I used a vintage Marantz 75 wpc Receiver for the HE-6, and this was also excellent. Much better than any of my other headphone amps except the Leben and Decware, which are really speaker amps themselves. A speaker amp really is the best choice for the HE-6, and you can get a pretty good one without spending huge amounts of money.

I spent some VERY enjoyable time with the HE-6 played via the Fisher KX-100. For those unfamiliar, the KX-100 is a 60's vintage all tube integrated amp using 7868 pentode power tubes in a push-pull, transformer coupled configuration, and with speakers rated about 25 wpc. The headphone Jack is driven off the output transformer, presumably using a 32 ohm secondary winding, but I am not sure of that.The Fisher is has a classic tube sound - warm, romantic, and lush, with a plump bass and a slightly shelved down treble, with beautiful sounding mids. This works better with some headphones than others, but it was awesome with the HE-6, which are, on their own, very neutral, with just a slight treble tilt. The combination was just gorgeous - surely not the most neutral sound there is, but wonderful to listen to.Power wise it was fine. On the Fisher's own scale of 1-10, I got my normal listening level at 6.5, which is where I typically listen to speakers on the Fisher (which I use primarily as a speaker amp). The results were highly enjoyable.

I also tried the Meier Concerto. At reasonable levels, the Concerto sounded very, very good with the HE-6. I also spent some time today with the HE-6 and an inexpensive Class D speaker/headphone amp, which outputs 10W into 8 ohms, and the Concerto was so much better with the HE-6 that it was almost laughable. I stopped listening to the Class D amp after about 20 minutes. It really did not sound good, and just slightly above my normal listening levels, it started to distort badly.

For whatever reason, the Concerto does not ever distort. I get to full rotation of the volume control, in high gain mode, and there is no distortion or clipping, and that is a level quite a bit louder than I would normally listen at, although I know from experience that it is a lower level than some people like (although those people are taking chances with hearing damage).

So since there was not a problem with clipping or distortion, I tried to listen for other more subtle signs of stress, which at my normal listening levels, I really could not detect. Overall the sound was quite engaging, smooth, and nicely nuanced. I got nice punch in the bass, and very natural mids, with less glare in the treble than I have heard with some other amps that I know were straining. The treble was actually really nice in combination.

I definitely would not recommend that people who own the HE-6 buy a Concerto to use as the main amp for them, as there is no doubt a limit to the Concerto's ability to drive them. But if your main amp was already a Concerto, and you wanted to get HE-6's with the idea of using them with the Concerto to drive them at least for some not insignificant period of time, I wouldn't hold back. The combination was certainly serviceable - it was actually quite enjoyable, within its volume limitations. But the HE-6 definitely sound much better with more power than this, and will reward the listener with even better sound with more power.

So as you can see, while I preferred some really powerful amps, the HE-6 are a superb headphone even driven by some pretty "normal" headphone amps. And how much power you really need is also highly dependent on what kind of listening levels you want to achieve. I realized once again when a friend of mine was over that I listen to headphones at much lower levels than many people do. The last two people who have come over here to check out headphones listened at levels I personally couldn't stand. So how much power you need absolutely depends on how much volume you're going to demand.

Of all of the current production high-end headphones I own, only the LCD-2 slightly nudges out the HE-6 overall for me, although for someone who likes a little more treble energy, I am certain they would prefer the HE-6. And for me the HE-6 are still terrifically good, when powered right. An impressive headphone.

It's funny - when I got the Beyer T1's, I was thrilled - they were so much better than any of the other headphones I owned. But then along came the LCD-2, and now the HE-6, and my T1's are not getting very much head time. The HE-6 are better than the T1, IMO. They are more open sounding, and seem to put less in between the music and the listener than the T1, which is a good thing.

But in any case, the HE-6 have been really impressive. With the right amp, they have are highly transparent, have great dynamic capability, and a very wideband neutrality. I can tell they will be a staple of my collection for a long time to come.

Got a chance to listen to the HE-6s at the recent ChiUniFi meet in Chicago. They were paired with a new Ray Samuels amp (due out in Dec) and the combo was nothing short of jaw dropping! Properly driven, the HE-6s had incredible presence and imaging. Standing there, eyes closed, I could place the intsruments and vocals in space around me and the sense of being immersed in the music was unlike any I have experienced. The sound was natural and effortless with excellent articulation, but no grain or harshness in the upper mid and treble areas -- something I find fatiguing in other headphones. At this same meet were hi-end Stax, Grado, Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser cans; yet the HE-6s stood out from them all. I highly recommend the HE-6s, particularly with the yet-to-be-released Ray Samuels amp, and this combo now tops my short list to complete my new home rig. Thanks, HiFiman for making these available!

My name is Luke. I am 19 years old and am a student. I live in Europe or more precisely the Czech Republic

A lot of time has passed since I have discovered this website and entered the world of headphones. Before that I didn't care much about sound. I listened to speakers of dubious quality, severely over-bassed and that was mostly what I cared for.

In May last year, my friend bought himself the Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones. When I listened to them, I thought they were awesome because apparently I had no idea about the qualities a headphone should have, other than bass.

My only HPs back then [and still are, although rarely used] were the Sony XB-300. For those who don't know, "XB" stands for "Xtra Bass" and they sure were bassy.

The other was the Turtle Beach PX-5, a gaming headset. I bought these in July, 2011 for 250 bucks. These were the polar opposites of both Beats and Sony. Bass light, but for gaming they were okay. After getting the Pro 900 I abandoned these and other than looking stylish they carried at least one other benefit with them, which turned to be quite useful in the future. What was it? Read on!

The Beats were an improvement on direct comparison with the XB-300 but there was also a little bit of bias, because quitefrankly everybody wore them, celebrities mainly which mean they should be really good, right?

Riiiiight...

Well, I still hesitated a little, they were quite expensive but very stylish yet I wasn't entirely convinced about their qualities.

This friend keep telling me that Beats are the best and that nothing can beat up. But I didn't buy into that. I made a bet with him that I can find a better HP, even more bassy and vastly superior in other aspects as well.

This is when I have discovered this website. As luck had it, I was researching more information about those Beats and I managed to find a link [actually the lone link which actually criticized beats, every other website just praised them to death, including well respected sites as well] which read "Beats-why do they suck" which took me to this very website..

As this awoke some doubts inside me, I started looking for alternatives and found two - Ultrasone Pro 900 and Denon AH-D2000.

But I was hesitating between these, each had it's pros and cons but in the end, the discontinuation of the D2000 made the choice for me.

So I bought the Pro 900 for the retail price of 500 bucks. When I first listened to them, I was blown away by the sound. While high expectations had some part in this, in the end we [both me and even my friend] agreed that they beat theBeats hands down.

But with time, I started to flaws with it. What flaws, you ask? There will be a little comparison with my current HP in the review of course!

So my love for them turned to hate and this was around the time I wrote my first, very critical, review. If I were to write the same review again, I wouldn't bash them as much but I wanted to save you guys from the terrible burn-in process I went through.

And after my previous experience I have concluded that it is better to be a little more critical than overestimating.

This was the time when I have concluded that my preferences have shifted significantly. I no longer wanted that overbearing bass I found myself loving before. No, I wanted something neutral,balanced and natural.

And again, I found myself initially struggling to decide - this time Hifiman HE-500 and Audez'e LCD-2 were the culprits behind this and later Hifiman HE-5LE was added to the mix.

But then I discovered how helpful you could be. Many of you guys hurried and offered me gobs of help and advice.

Those involved will be mentioned at the end of the review. Particularly a certain someone who sacrificed lots of his own free time to help me.

This made the choice so much easier for me in the end.

Which one???

After extensive analysis and some deep thinking I came to a decision. Which HP did I choose? As the title might suggest, none of the above.

I took the plunge and increased my budget, thus kicking it up a notch higher - I went directly for the flagship model of HE-6.

And this is why we are all here, right?

Without further ado, let me get to the main event, the review itself.

Oh, yeah and this would be me

Yours truly, one and only! :P

Table of contents:

0)Prologue

1)Equipment

2)Unboxing

3)Build quality and design

4)First impressions

5)Sound characteristics

6)Gaming

7)Portability

8)Unique trait

9)Songs and genres

10)Value

11)Conclusion

12)More pictures

13)Special thanks

14)Epilogue

1)Equipment and cabling

Here I will list all the associated equipment with a few notes for each.

First the headphones

Hifiman HE-6

Very neutral, natural, coherent, transparent, detailed, very extended, exciting and inviting. These are just a few words one can connect with the HE-6. Special airy sound.

I don't wanna say too much as these will be analyzed much deeper further in the review.

The midrange is recessed with very potent bass and extended aggressive highs. Prone to sibilance, but can provide a very special sound signature. Takes a lot of time to get used to and has a long burn in process. Add a bit of extra bass to everything. They complement the HE-6 really well.

Works really well for gaming. Also really good when traveling even unamped but a slightly warm amp [ex. Fiiio E11 works really well] would be recommended.

Doesn't cope well with neutral amps [ex. Audio GD NFB-16]

More in the comparison category.

Turtle Beach PX-5 [and the DSP converter that came with it]

Their sound is very mid-centric. Bass is very shy and lacking, prone to distortion or underperformance when stronger bass is required. The highs are too smooth, slightly muted. No extra excitement found here. In the end you have a HP centered around midrange with unimpressive bass and highs.

They are bluetooth and require 2 AA batteries to work. Their build is solid. Headband is sufficiently paded. However, neoprene is used which is an odd choice. They aren't very comfortable either and they borrow the cons from each leather and velour respectively.

They are sweaty as leathers and itchy as velours. Not a good choice either.

For gaming, the spacial cues and sound are okay, but are easily beaten by the two more expensive headphones in all aspects.

For the highest Turtle Beach model, I definitely expected them to be at least on par with the more expensive HPs at least as far as gaming goes, but nope.

Listening to music is even worse and by a big margin. Not particularly detailed and boring. Not much on offer here.

The one benefit I mentioned earlier is the DSP unit that came with it.

Works really good with Pro 900 and HE-6. One of the better processors I'd say. Works with both PS3 and X360.

So at least the DSP unit makes up a bit for the headphones. Definitely not worth the 250 asking price.

Sony XB-300

The only HP which is on-ear rather than over-ear like the rest.

They have a V shaped signature. Like the Pro 900, they also add bass to every song but more and it is boomy bass not tight at all.

Their highs are smooth, but not very detailed. The mids are recessed but slightly less so than the Pro 900. The bass is very strong and hits deep, but as said is very boomy and can be bloated at times. For 40 bucks though, I'd say they were quite a value, if you like lots of bass that is. Exciting to listen to, good for traveling, doesn't need an amp like the Pro 900. Also nice for working out as they keep you going and are light weight.

Now discontinued and replaced by the XB-400 which is slightly better so even bigger bargain as well.

Now associated Amplifiers and DACs

Emotiva Mini-X a-100 speaker amp

Now, let me start by saying this amplifier is something special. It costs 220 bucks, which is less than most headphone amplifiers.

Of course this thing is for powering speakers, or is it?

Well you could say the HE-6 is a little speaker. These two have great synergy, but is a speaker amp really necessary? In my opinion yes. There still is a little controversy about how much power Hifiman cans, especially the HE-6, really need. Well this amp works really good with HE-500 and HE-5LE as well.

In my experience a conventional HP amp was not able to drive the HE-6 sufficiently.

If there are still a few hardheaded guys who would like to use a HP amp, then yes there are those, but you are looking at no less than 400 dollars and yet the results are in most cases underwhelming.

Mini-X and HE-6 is the real deal. it is transparent, quick, with decent soundstage depth and width, quite neutral and has nice extension on both sides. It is dead silent at all volumes.

Did I mention it is only 220? It also runs very cool. You also have a nice volume knob and gold platted connectors.

Long story short, there is no better entry level amp for the HE-6. It drives them effortlessly but it is easy to see that HE-6 benefits from extra power/current compared to HP amps. More on later.

That saying there are more expensive speaker amps which can outperform the Mini-X, But those would be more expensive.

In contrast wasting hundreds more on a HP amp with dubious results... Speaker amps seem to be the much safer choice in case of the HE-6.

And of course there is always a chance that the receiver you have in your living room could have a nice synergy with this HP.

Audio GD NFB-3.32

DAC stands for Digital to Analogue converter. To put it simply, it converts digital sound [1 and 0] to analogue [sound].

The cheapest of the Audio GD DAC offerings [excluding the DAC/Amp combo units].

This one uses two WM8741 chips as well as a WM8805 and the USB32 chip for various inputs. ["WM" stands for Wolfson Microelectronics]

This one costs 350 bucks + around 60 for shipping and I would say is priced nicely as well.

The sound is very neutral but slightly smooth up top but still nicely detailed and extended. Also quite transparent.

It has all the inputs you might need - USB [very nicely implemented, practically nullifies all differences that were there between coaxial and USB], coaxial and optical.

I have a 2 RCA outputs version as the regular version, which has 1 RCA and 1 ACCS output, because I had no use for it.

It runs slightly warmer than the Mini-X [which is practically cold]

Much like the Mini, it is dead silent and there is no hum or noise from the computer.

For 350, it is a good deal too. Although I can see further improvements with more expensive DACs.

However, much like the a-100, it is hard to beat as a starter. All the components mentioned have good synergy with each other.

Fiio E11

A very versatile little amp. Slightly warmer with smooth highs. Ideal for the Pros. Fits your pocket nicely. Mine has a twice stronger battery than the stock one so lasts twice longer [for 15 bucks].

Packs lots of power. For 60 bucks it is hard to beat. Fully aluminium casing [like all amps here]. Has a bass boost switch. Fiio is getting very popular among audiophiles these days.

Audio GD NFB-16 [DAC and Amp combo]

This unit was only used shortly with both Pro 900 and HE-6.

The amp is very neutral and thus had a somewhat bad synergy with the Pro 900 as it prefers a warmer one.

On the other hand, it has a good synergy with the also neutral HE-6 but ultimately couldn't supply enough power for the HP which was apparent in comparison with the Mini.

It works on rechargeable batteries so it is a transportable amp, while not exactly pocket sized.

For 200 bucks [+ shipping] it is again a great value and should have enough power to power most HP [it powered the Pro 900 alright] and is both a DAC and an Amp.

It has a USB input an RCA line-in and a 1/8 jack line in. It boasts a 1/8 and 1/4 HP outs as well as a coax out.

So you can connect practically anything to it. Very flexible unit.

Unfortunately, I have no use for it right now.

It is discontinued now and a new model is supposedly in the works [albeit very similar to this one] but it was on sale only for a month or so [last September I think]so if anyone wants to buy [80 Euros shipped] let me know.

The first Hifiman cable came with HE-5, claimed to be the best Hifiman stock cable, close to aftermarkets. Silver coated, has sleeving. I won't comment on the cable differences but sounds really good. Bought from a fellow headfier HiFlight [http://www.hiflightaudio.com/]

IMO better than the stock OCC cable [ which is probably starting to oxidize anyways]. All neutrik connectors

+ Matching speaker tap extension

Matched with the HE-5 cable. silver tinned. Neutrik XLR and banana plugs. sturdy, heavy but lies on the table anyways. Sonically good to me.

Also have the same matched cable for XLR to 1/4 plug. Again all Neutriks and again courtesy of HiFlight

There, among the stock copper cable.

Pro 900 stock 1/8 cable

Very sturdy stuff but also somewhat flexible

Also comes with a 1/4 cable

It is coiled. I also think those 1/4 could be used as a killing weapon one day...

Will be updated later when I get either Q audio or Norse audio cabling.

Now let's get to

2)Unboxing and accessories

A/N:

I bought the HE-6 from Justin W. at HeadAmp. Justin is a nice guy, were easy to deal with and if you have any requests he is likely to fulfill them [for ex. I wanted the leathers swapped for velours]. He also offered international free shippingwith FedEx which was really cool. Either way, both Justin and Hifiman offer tremendous customer support and service and I can easily recommend them.

Ok the headphones arrived in a big box, within a week after payment.

The HP case was covered with while polystyrene.

And even further snugly protected by polystyrene and bubble wrapped

After unwrapping you get a nice looking leather covered shoe box, which looks better than moost other shoe boxes HPs come in [HD800,T1,etc]

There wasn't any other box however.

Upon opening the box, I was greeted by these

I think they look very nice in these pictures, almost better than the real thing.

What else will you get?

A copper cable, valued at 150 bucks by Hifiman.

I however, opted for a different cable,mentioned above

A pouch in which the cable came as well as an extra pair of velours.

Quality control/assurance card [probably new design, I know it used to look different]

The old one

HE-6 overall 8.5/10

In comparison to the Pro 900, the package is quite similar. In favor of the Pro 900 speaks the extra box [y'know the one all other headphone come with].

There is also no manual for the HE-6 and you get only a single cable while the Pro 900 comes with two.

In return you get a nicer leather box, a nicer quality cable [not necessarily more durable but possibly better sounding] and a leather pouch oh, and don't forget the quality assurance card. That one apparently matters a lot...

I have been in search of a headphone that could give me the details and dynamic range of an electrostat with the tonal weight of a reference dynamic. The previous system was a K701 with a Singlepower Extreme. It gave me a pretty good sound but I felt the sound was still inferior to electrostats and bass was lacking compared to other mid fi dynamics.

Last year a headfier introduced us to the HE-5 at the same time as the HD800 and PS1000. While I liked the similarities to the K701, the HD800 still felt a bit thin in presentation. The PS1000 had a bit more sonic weight and I liked them as well. Then I tried the HE-5. I first heard it on the first HiFiMan amp and it sounded ok but didn't have enough juice to "crank it". So I brought them to my rig for a listen and was curiously impressed with the ortho sound.

Well, a fellow headfier let us borrow his LCD-2 headphones for a few weeks last fall. At that time, I was infatuated with the sound. It gave me that speed, detail and impact I was looking for. There were a few things I did notice about the LCD-2 that didn't suit my tastes. One was the laid back presentation, another was the slight recession of the highs in relation to the mids and dominating lows. I also felt the center imaging was a bit fuzzy but being a new technology (for me), I attributed this to my inexperience.

After reading several threads about the new HE-6, I chanced the purchase. I ordered them on the 15th and received them on the 20th of December. To have a headphone come from across the world, through US routing during their holiday season and at my door in 5 days is impressive.

I was happy to see the piano gloss black matched my TV, sub, etc. but the wood of the HE-5 is a piece of art (similar to the LCD-2). The cable that comes with the HE-6 is much better quality than I was expecting. Lightweight, extremely flexible, sturdy connectors & plugs, nice on the eyes.

I plugged them into the SP thinking no burn in time was needed and I had plenty of power because the HE-5 sounded great on it. Wrong on both counts. I couldn't get enough volume to hear vocals without distortion. Any extension from the mids on either end was unbearable. Having heard the burn in of the K701, I knew not to react to initial impressions, so they were left on for a couple days. Coming back to them was a much more pleasurable experience. I could hear beautiful sound. Something didn't sound right but I was having a hard time identifying what it was. For one, I couldn't get enough power for preferred listening. Every time something got me excited, my amp ran out of steam and would distort in the lows. Something I'd not experienced with K340, K701, HD800, RS-1, etc.

The other thing I had a problem with was the center presentation. Both side sounds were clear, in place and localized. When panning, everything tracked through from ear to ear. But playing music sometimes, the center presentation seemed to be out of phase, soft, fuzzy. I noticed this with the LCD-2 so I thought it was perhaps the technology.

Well I kept reading about trying a speaker amp to run them and I had one I could control the volume on the amp (Rotel RMB-1050). After I got the volume pots trimmed for my listening levels, I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. Not only did I hear what I wanted, I heard what I didn't think could be done with a headphone. Deeper bass with better details than any headphone I've heard up to that point and most speakers/subs. The highs were comparable to stats with just a bit less decay and not quite as delicate. Much better than I've heard from any dynamic. The best part was that the center resolution issue disappeared. Seems I just needed more power.

I am a tube convert and wanted to try a tube speaker amp but the only way to control the volume is by the computer (right now). So a fellow headfier offered me an amp to try (GTA SE-40). I have to say, a tube speaker amp with good extension and little roll off is a treat worth the investment and time. I have found my sound and am indeed a very happy camper. Now to get a DAC (Perfectwave maybe) worthy of the setup with a volume control and I can listen to music and not equipment until my ride comes to take me home.

If you like the Sennheiser sound, the LCD-2 are your babies. If you like the AKG sound, the HE-6 will be the ones. For the price of the HE-6 and a nice quality tube speaker amp, you can get a pretty good rig for under the cost of a HD800.

This will be a very detail-lacking review of these headphones. Whe life becomes a bit more relaxed I would like to sit downand write the proper review that these truly amazing headphones deserve. For now, i'll say that these are the perfect headphones for the analytical listener, someone that appreciates details and clarity of their trebels. They make the music feel so life like. I listen to a lot of classical and found sever nuances that I had never before heard in several recordings (examples to be provided in a complete review). Orchestral suites have new life and string quartets sound intimate. Even rock is reproduced very well with the bass range faithfully reproduced, without it being overdone. Stringed instruments and acoustic guitars sound tearfully accurate. Now to the shortfalls. There is a lack of a centerstage sound reproduction. I do have to add that with some recordings there an excellent rpresentation of a full soundstage. I guess that soundstage reproductions is heavily dependent on the recording. The headphones are an analytical listeners dream, so much so that I found myself listening to the background instruments and nuances more than the vocals. Recordings are presented for what they are, good or bad. This review is a reflection of my opinions.

UPDATE (3-22-2012) : I have had to replace the headphone cables due to oxidation back in January of 2012. I am having the same problem again with the replacement cables, just three months down the line. I would highly advise purchasers to get a good set of Headphone cables for the HE-6.